Nadal under pressure after loss

Rafael Nadal must beat Novak Djokovic on Friday to have any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals after a 6-1 7-6 (7/4) defeat by Nikolay Davydenko at the O2 Arena in London this evening.

The world number two, who lost 6-4 6-4 to Robin Soderling in his first round-robin match, was simply blown away by the Russian in the opening set and a second-set recovery ended with defeat in a superb tie-break.

Davydenko has a decent record against Nadal, having beaten him three times in their previous seven matches, most recently in the final of the Shanghai Masters last month.

And he began superbly, setting up a break point in the second game with a backhand winner then taking his opportunity when a lengthy rally ended with Nadal finding the top of the net.

The Spaniard, unusually, did not even attempt to chase down a number of balls and his record in the competition slumped to three sets lost and none won after less than half an hour as Davydenko secured a second break to love before easily serving it out.

Nadal looked a shadow of the player who dominated the first five months of the season and he was immediately in trouble at the start of the second set.

The world number two saved the break point thanks to a big serve and went on to hold but Davydenko must have been scarcely able to believe how many half-court balls his opponent was presenting him with.

The near-capacity crowd was also stunned, every Nadal error greeted by a collective intake of breath.

The Russian really was playing well, though, the accuracy of his groundstrokes sending Nadal, who appeared to be struggling with his movement - particularly on the backhand side, scrambling across his baseline.

The Majorcan doggedly hung on in the third game but the pressure finally told two games later, Davydenko taking his third break point to move into a 3-2 lead.

The seventh seed then gave Nadal an unexpected lifeline as he slipped to 15-40 but the 23-year-old could not take advantage.

Nadal has reached the semi-finals on both his previous appearances at the end-of-season tournament and he at last began to take the fight to his opponent, pumping his fist in celebration as a Davydenko backhand dropped long on break point.

A three-game winning streak for Nadal took him to 5-4 but the Russian stopped the rot and another feeble game from the Australian Open champion left Davydenko serving for the match.

An engrossing second set had another surprise in store, though, as a series of vintage Nadal shots allowed him to break back again.

A tie-break of phenomenal quality ensued, with rallies full of punishing exchanges, but it was Davydenko, deservedly, who came through thanks to the last of many winners.

The Russian, who had complained of breathing problems in his defeat by Djokovic on Monday, said: 'I really tried to play my best tennis and I enjoyed it.

'I know Nadal always fights for every point and in the second set he started playing better and running better but the tie-break was good for me.'